>>>>And not finding WMD's does not change my opinion that Saddam was a threat.
>>
>>This seems to me to be the root of the whole thing.
>>
>>We obliterated the Iraqi military during the first gulf war. I served in the Marine Corps
>>on the Port of Jubail, Saudi Arabia from August 1990 to April 1991, and I saw all the captured
>>military equipment we took from the battlefields. This equipment was at the time severly outdated,
>>and as I said before, was no match for us.

I won't disagree with you there. But the simple fact that Saddam thought he could win should give you some clue as to the depths of his delusions. We are not talking about a sane, stable person here.

>>Since there was a UN embargo against Iraq, and we were blockading the country and patrolling the
>>Northern and Southern borders, how could Iraq, 12 years later, be a threat to the US? They were no
>>more of a threat to the US 3 years ago than they were the day after the 1990 war. If anything, the
>>Iraqi military was even more degraded.

So, why did he go to such lengths to not cooperate with the UN? Why couldn't he account for all the VX and other nasty gasses he was known to have at the end of the 1st Gulf War? What was he hiding in all of those palaces of his? All of this could have been avoided if he had abided by his agreements.

Meanwhile, you are also dismissing the opportunities for aquisition of new materials during the embargo. Russia and France were supplying him with much more than humanitarian aid under the "Oil for Food" program. Saddam was not trustworthy, period.

>>After 9/11, Americans were filled with fear and hysteria. People were scared and angered, and wanted
>>someone to blame. Bush came on the scene and told the American people that Iraq was involved. Of course
>>people would support an attack.

Please, that's rather simplistic. AFAIK Bush was the sitting president on 11 Sep 2001. He no more "came on the scene" than I do when I show up for work. It's also not relevant to the discussion.

>>Problem is, there was not then, and does not exist now, and credible evidence that Iraw had either WMD's or ties to terrorist.

There's a lot of interesting documents coming out of Iraq that indicate otherwise. And it will take some time to analyze them all. How long did it take to review everything captured from Nazi Germany?

Ask yourself this: what could Bush gain by lying to the people and the court of world opinion about his reasons to go to war? My answer is: nothing. In fact, he had much, much more to lose.